The Philippines joins the Hague Apostille Convention

Blog post by martin08.07.2019

The Philippines has become a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, making it easier, cheaper and more streamlined for companies and citizens who wish to legalise documents for use in the Philippines. Although a member of the convention, the Philippine Apostille will not apply to Austria, Finland, Germany and Greece.

On 14th of May 2019, the Philippines became an effective member state of the Apostille Agreement under the Hague Convention, making the island state the 82nd member of the convention. The Hague Apostille Convention is an international convention with the aim of streamlining authentication of documents abroad from one member state of the convention to another member state. The apostille stamp applies to court-issued documents, administrative documents, notarial acts and official certificates. Previously, all documents for legalisation needed an official stamp from the Philippine Embassy in the country of which the document was issued as proof of authentication.

States that are party to the convention

After Philippines’ entry in the Apostille convention, obtaining an Apostille stamp on the legalised documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is sufficient, making the legalisation process cheaper and faster and the trip to the Philippine Embassy redundant. However, if the documents you wish to use in the Philippines was issued in a non-Apostille member country, you still need to get the document stamped at the Philippine Embassy.

However, complications can still emerge in the process of document legalisation. An example is Finland, Austria, Germany and Greece who objected to the Philippines accession in the Apostille convention. This means that the legalisation of documents in these countries is the same as before the Philippines joined the Apostille, making the process longer and more expensive. At Comet Consular Service we keep ourselves updated on geopolitical affairs such as these so that we are able to be one step ahead and provide our customers with comprehensive service and global overview in the field of legalisation. Regardless of your circumstances, we at Comet Consular Services are ready to assist you in the process of legalising your documents. We open the world

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